The present invention relates to the new variety of Calibrachoa plant originated from crossing of a Calibrachoa hybrid variety called ‘Sunbelki’ as the female parent and ‘W12’ as the male parent.
The Calibrachoa is a very popular plant that is used for flower bedding and potting in the summer season. There are only a few small flowered Calibrachoa varieties known to the inventor, such as ‘SUNTORY SP-R’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,557), ‘Sunberubu’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,754), ‘Sunbelchipi’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,355) and ‘Sunbelki’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,558), that are spreading, and have a medium plant height, with abundant branches and a high resistance to heat, rain and disease. There are even fewer varieties known to the inventors that have a great profusion of flowers, are yellowish-white with a reddish purple vein color, and have high resistance to rain, heat, and disease. Accordingly, this invention was aimed at obtaining a new Calibrachoa variety having yellowish white colored with deep reddish purple vein, and very small flowers, combined with the above features.
The female parent ‘Sunbelki’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,558) used in the crossing of ‘Sunbelpisupu’ is a cultivar grown at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan, having a spreading growth habit with abundant branching. It has small single flowers, the petals having a bright yellow color. The flower color of the female parent differs from that of the claimed plant.
The male parent ‘W12’ (unpatented) used in the crossing of ‘Sunbelpisupu’ is a strain of our breeding lines, having a spreading growth habit with many branches. It has small single flowers, the petals having a white color. The flower color of the male parent differs from that of the claimed plant.
In April 2000, crossing of ‘Sunbelki’ as the female parent and ‘W12’ as the male parent was conducted at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. In September 2000, 50 seedlings were obtained from that crossing. These seedlings were grown in pots in glasshouses and were evaluated from April 2001. One seedling was selected in view of its growth habit, flower size and color in September 2001. That seedling was propagated by cutting and a trial was carried out by flower potting and bedding from April to October 2002. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Sunbelki’ and ‘Sunbelchipi’ for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Calibrachoa plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. Then the new variety of Calibrachoa plant was named ‘Sunbelpisupu’.
In the following description, the color-cording is in accordance with The R.H.S. Colour Chart.